Oscar Wilde

Welcome to UK Ferries Enthusiasts. We hope you enjoy your visit.

You're currently viewing our forum as a guest. This means you are limited to certain areas of the board and there are some features you can't use. If you join our community, you'll be able to access member-only sections, and use many member-only features such as customizing your profile, sending personal messages, and voting in polls. Registration is simple, fast, and completely free.

Join our community!

If you're already a member please log in to your account to access all of our features:

Oscar Wilde
Topic Started: Jul 14 2008, 05:10 PM (145 Views)
Innisfallen	Jul 14 2008, 05:10 PM Post #1
Member Posts: 173 Group: Members Member #27 Joined: August 29, 2006	In Janurary last year Irish Ferries spent €45 million on acquiring the 31,914 tonnes 'Kronprins Harald', and following a €5million refit she entered service last November. Everyone that has travelled on her since that I have spoken to has talked highly of her, so I decided it was time for my own trip on her. Following four and a half hours of busses, i arrived in Rosslare at 13.00, and checked in at the Irish Ferries desk in the terminal, then onto the departures lounge. Boarding commenced at 15.10 for the 16.00 sailing. Foot passenger boarding is via the walkway to berth 3, and the gangway emerges onto Deck 5 and the reception area. Deck 5 also has a large shop and a Beauty Salon added by IF during her refit. The rest of this deck is cabins and crew areas. The main staircase and lifts near reception take you to the rest of the ship. Deck 6 is mainly cabins with a freight drivers lounge and Deck 8 is all cabins. Deck 7 is the main passenger facilities deck. Starting aft is the Gaiety Lounge, one of her two main bars and which had 2 lads playing guitar, a singing group, and a magician on stage as i passed through a few times during the night. There is also a casino table near the entrance (which didn’t appear to be doing much business!). Moving forward from the Gaiety Lounge, along the Scandinavian style starboard arcade,(with a range of leather settees and seats around tables), first is Oscar’s Piano Bar which has small gaming areas to each side. Next is the Berneval Waiter Service Restaurant followed by The Steakhouse. The ship’s main stairwell is next with the Left Bank Brasserie (self service) to port. Continuing past the stairs on the starboard arcade is the Café Lafayette which is a round the clock snack bar finally leading into the forward bar, the Merrion Lounge which although big is clearly a more restful lounge than the Gaiety Lounge (with a view over the bow, and TVs showing RTÉ2 most of the night). Deck 10 has been converted into a reclining seat lounges and the ships cinema while extensive outside deck areas including a sun deck with a bar (marked on plans as Deck 10, but is actually Deck 11). I droped my bags in my cabin, then went outside to watch our departure from Rosslare. Loading was complete at 16.15, and Captain Grace announced we would soon be heading so sea, and that a late arrival in Cherbourg was expected due to heavy swells and a force 8 head wind in the Celtic Sea. By 16.20 the lines were dropped and we proceeded out the harbour passing LÉ Emer and the Granuaile III anchored outside the harbour. Once passed Tuskar Rock I headed to the bridge, where Captain Grace discussed how the ship was settling in, the modifications Irish Ferries made to her and went through the background of the various systems on board. During the course of the voyage I met all the ships officers and they all spoke very highly of the ship, and told me about life onboard. At about 19.30 I decided to grab a bite to eat, and took some pictures of the public areas. I later headed to the (very quiet) Gaiety Lounge (and was surprised to see 3 dolphins hopping around!). By 23.00 I headed outside to get some night shots and I retreated to my cabin for the night. The following morning I headed for Breakfast at 07.45 in the Left Bank Brasserie for a full (proper!) Irish Breakfast. After breakfast I had a walk around the outside decks, and Captain Grace announced our arrival would be delayed from 10.30 to 12.30 I then headed for the Engine Room for a tour. The Engine Control Room, and the engine room are the only part of a ship that I had never been in. One of the engineers was delighted to explain what they do and showed me the various monitoring systems. I was then given a tour of the engine room itself. I then grabbed my bags and headed to an area on Deck 11 overlooking the bridge for our arrival at Cherbourg. A container vessel followed us in, with Brittany Ferries Cotentin sneaking in ahead of us. The Cherbourg pilot boarded at 12.15, and we passed the outer breakwater at 12.25. We docked on Quai de France sliding in behind the Normandie Express. The Oscar Wilde is in excellent condition for her age, and Irish Ferries have made her their own. She handled a very rough sea well, and was carried a full load out. I have also never met a crew that were so proud of their ship, nor so enthusiastic about the job at hand. My thanks to Captain Grace and his crew for such an excellent trip. Photos in the IFE Gallery[url]
	irish-ferries-enthusiasts.com :: blog :: Cork Ships


1 user reading this topic (1 Guest and 0 Anonymous)


« Previous Topic · Voyage Reports & Photos · Next Topic »